CNY in Melbourne

As I am typing this post, I am currently sitting in a cafe in Sydney having a decent Eggs Ben for breakfast. The cherry season is over, I have left my job (another post) and we have made the long drive up from Melbourne to Sydney as part of a work/ leisure trip. Work (and leisure) for the gf, leisure for me. 

This post is kindda similar to the previous post about celebrating CNY here in Melbourne instead of in Singapore - a reflection of sorts. 

For someone with a large-ish extended family who is used to many visiting days every year during CNY, the change of pace was quite stark. While I would not claim to feel homesick at this point, I can appreciate how it is during festive seasons that people living or working overseas start to feel more homesick. The thought of how you would usually celebrate or commemorate the festival back home will seep into your head from time to time. And in today's world, all you have to do is to scroll through your ig stories or fb page to be reminded of the things you used to do back home. And living at a country where CNY is not really celebrated or where celebrations are much more muted compared to back home, it almost feels like you are living in a different world. 

But it is also in this hyper connected world that allows you to stay connected with your family and friends, so much so that even when you are physically quite far away, you are never really too far away. Ultimately, what one really miss most about the festivities is the social aspect of it.

We had our own little 除夕年夜饭 at a Chinese hotpot place in Melbourne CBD. While we may not physically be in Singapore having our reunion dinners, we thought it important that we commemorate the day as what it is and not treat it as any other day. Which was different for a small minority of my Taiwanese colleagues - some of them after being here for 4 years noted that since they haven't been home for so long they just treated it as any ordinary day. Anyhow, given the significance of the day and the no of chinese population in Melbourne, we made a reservation at the hotpot place (something we never really do), but when we arrived, the place was only 60-70% filled.

Took a little walk towards Chinatown after dinner where we pressume all the festivities will be. Greeted with firecrackers (real ones!) and lion dances. Unfortunately we didnt stay for long because the streets were crowded and the gf was afraid of catching COVID a second time. With quite a bit at stake given our long drive up to Sydney in a couple of days, we headed back home for yet another uneventful night.

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Update: 

We had originally intended to do our only CNY visiting to my uncle's place on 初一, but our respective schedules couldn't fit that in. Ended up doing our visitation on the last day of the New Year celebrations - on 元宵 which I thought was quite apt as well since its a day meant for family gatherings. Thought about bringing 汤圆s over but thought the better of it given our culinary skills.

I had gone to Woolies to get a couple of mandarins for 拜年 purposes. The same kind of mandarins that I had been buying and eating a few months ago during my work breaks. It came as a surprise to me therefore on the significant price change since the citrus season is over here in Australia. I think one thing we don't really notice about getting fruits in Singapore is price of it (with the exception of durian I suppose, any respectable Singaporean or Malaysian for that matter should know when durian season is). I think in Singapore we get relatively competitive prices for fruits all year round which may not be subjected to too much seasonal price changes as we get our fruits from all over the world. I presume its because these fruits are in season somewhere in the world at any moment of time. But here in Australia,  most of the stuff you see at the supermarkets are locally produced. In fact many of the items will be proudly imprinted with the words 'locally produced' or 'Australian made'. It can even go as far as 'product of Victoria' - the specific federal state making it even more local. For such a big country with so many different temperates and climates, many backpackers move inter-state to follow the seasons of specific fruits. Back to the point, when not in season in the country, the fruits that they we see in supermarkets will be imported fruits. So while I was having Australian mandarins 2 months ago, the ones I bought to bring over to my uncle's place were imported from the States. Tiny ones at that. Imp Mandarins.